Pittston Gazette

              . Its fun * x D ■ •tebllahed 1850.1 VOL. L No. IT f Oldest Newspaper in the Wvomine Vallev PITTSTON, LUZERNE COUNTY, PA., FRIDAY, DECEMBER i, 1899. A Weekly Local and Family Journal. tSl.OO* Ya*r . in idnM, ilpEiwm # „ , 1 i|i if*» C( ssi™. if ;| AFRICAN FARM I H ** A TALE OF LIFE IN THE if ★ BOER REPUBLIC. g are rolling In that lake at this moment who would say, 'It was love that brought us here.' Oh, let us think always of our own souls first. that she should ask him; It was not a fit and proper thing for little girls to talk about. Then she asked him who Copernicus was, and he said he was one of the emperors of Rome, who burned the Christians In a golden pig, and the worms eat him up while he was still alive. 1 don't know why," said Em plaintively, "but she Just put her books under her arm and walked out, and Bhe will never come to his school again, she Bays, and she always does what she says. And now I must sit here every day alone," said Em, the great tears dropping softly. Tant" Bannle. "He can give yon more than you have lost." rays of the sun. The German turned the horse's head out of the road. It was not his way to pass a living creature without a word of greeting. Coming nearer, he found It was no other than the wife of the absconding Kaffir herd. She had a baby tied on her back by a dirty strip of red blanket Another strip hardly larger was twisted round her waist, for the rest of her black body was naked. She was a sullen, ill looking woman, with lips hideously protruding. may have happened since 1 left?" said the German, turning to the Hottentot woman who sat upon the step. door for the last time that night Then he paced the room slowly and sighed. Then he drew out a pen and paper and sat down to write, rubbing his old gray eyes with his knuckles before be began: , My Chicken*—Tou did not coma to aty foodbf to the old man. Might you? Ah, wall, than is a land where they part no mora, whan aainta lm» mortal reign. I alt here alone, and I think of yon. Win yon forget the old man? When you wake tomorrow, he will be far away. The old hone la lacy, but he has hi* (tick to help him. That la three l«g» He cornea back one day with gold and Will yon welcome hiof Well, we «h«n aae. I go to meet Waldo. Ha cornea back with the wagon. Then he tollowa me. Poor boy! Oo4 knows. Then la a land when all thing. m made right, bat that land la not here. My little children, aerre tha Sarloor. Gin your hearta to Mb while you an yet young. !■C«» to abort. Nothing la mine; otherwise I would say, Lyndall, take my book*, Em my atonaa. Now I mf nothing. The thinga an mine. It la not righteoua, God knows. But I am allent Let It be. But I feel it. I muat aay I feel It. Do not cry too much for the old He goea out to aeek hia fortune and oomea back with it fat it may be. 1 love my children. Do tBey think of met I am old Otto, who goea out to aaak hia fortune. uable, very valuable," he said, shaking his head. "I do, I do!" he cried. "But, oh, I have no wife! L have no wife!" "Ah, my friend," said Bonaparte, "what Joy it la to be once more in your society!" She was his friend; she would tell him kindly the truth. The woman answered by a load, ringing laugh. "A charge to keep I have, A God to glorify, A never dying soul to save And fit it (or the sky. Tant' Sannle was much affected and came and stood near the bed. "Ask him if he won't have a little pap—nice, fine, flour pap. There la some boiling on the kitchen fire." The German's eye glistened, and, Bonaparte seized bis hand and squeezed It warmly. They then proceeded to crack and eat. After awhile Bonaparte said, stuffing a handful of raisina into his mouth: "Give It him, old missis! him!" O1T0 It "Oh, beloved friends, remember the little boy and the 'meiboss;' remember the young girl and the young man; remember the lake, the fire and the brimstone; remember the suicide's skeleton on the pitchy billows of Mount Etna; remember the voice of warning that has this day sounded In your earn And what 1 say to you I say to all— watch. May the Lord add his blessing."It was so nice to see the white man who had been master hunted down. The colored woman laughed and threw a dozen mealie grains Into her mouth to chew. The German made the proposal, but the widower waved his hand. "1 was so deeply grieved, my dear friend, that you and Tant' Sannle had some slight unpleasantness this evening.""No; nothing shall pass my lips. 1 should be suffocated. No, no! Speak not of food to me!" The German questioned her as to how she came there. 8be muttered In broken Dutch that she had been turned away. Had she done evil? She shook her head sullenly. Had she had food given her? She grunted a negative and fanned the flies from her baby. Telling the woman to remain where she was, he turned his horse's head to the road and rode off at a furious pace. ▲11 anger and excitement faded from the old man's face. He turned slowly away and walked down the little path to his cabin, with his shoulders bent. It was all dark before him. He stumbled over the threshold of his own well known door. "Pap and a little brandy in," said Tant' Sannle coaxlngly. "Perhaps Tantf Sannle will send him away," said the boy In his mumbling way, trying to comfort her. "Oh, no, no!" aald the German. "It la all right now. A few aheep missing, but I make it good myself. I give my 12 aheep and work in the other eight" Bonaparte caught the word. "Perhaps, perhaps—If I struggled with myself—for the sake of my duties I might Imbibe a few drops," he said, looking with quivering lip up Into the German's face. "1 must do my duty, must I not?" CHAPTER V. She hoped the German hadn't told mm. She wondered where those clothes were when he came in rags to her door. There was no donbt he was a very respectable man, a gentleman. The German DegM to read a hymn. At the end of each line Bonaparte groaned and twice at the end of every verse. "No," said Em, shaking her head, "no. Last night when the little Hottentot maid was washing her feet he told her he liked such feet and that fat women were so nice to him, and she said I must always put, him pure cream In his coffee now. No; he'll never go away," said Em dolorously. wnnxAT lVICE HO. t Here the Bible closed with a tremendous thud. Tant' Sannie loosened the white handkerchief about her neck and wiped h*r eyes, and the colored girl, seeing her do so, sniffled. They did not understand the discourse, which made it the more affecting. There hung over It that inscrutable charm which hovers forever for the human intellect . over the Incomprehensible and shadowy. When the last hymn was sung, the German conducted the offlciator to Tant' Sannle, who graciously extended her hand and offered coffee and a seat on the sofa. Leaving him there, the German hurried away to see how the little plum pudding he had left at home was advancing, and Tant' Sannie remarked that it was a hot day. Bonaparte gathered her meaning as she fanned herself with the end of her apron. He bowed low in acquiescence. A fong silence followed. Tant' Sannie spoke again. Bonaparte gave her no ear. His eye was fixed on a small miniature on the opposite wall, which represented Tant* Sannie as she had appeared on the day before her confirmation, 15 years before, attired in green muslin. Suddenly he started to his feet, walked up to the picture and took his stand before it Long and wistfully be gazed Into Its features. It was easy to see that he was deeply moved. With a sudden movement, as though no longer able to restrain himself, be seised the picture, loosened It from its nail and held it close to his eyes. At length, turning to the Boer woman, be said in a voice of deep emotion: "It Is rather hard that you should have to make good the lbst aheep," Baid Bonaparte. "It la no fault of yours." The boy Waldo kissed the pages of his book and looked up. Far over the Oat lay the "kopje," a mere speck; the sheep wandered quietly from bush to bush; the stillness of the early Sunday rested everywhere, and the air was fresh. Em, sobbing bitterly, would have followed him, but the Boer woman prevented her by a flood of speech which convulsed the Hottentot, so low were Its images. "Well," aaid the German, "thia is the case: Laat evening I count the sheep at the kraal. Twenty are missing. I ask the herd. He teli8 me they are with the other flock; he tella me ao dlatinctly. How can I think he Ue8? Thia afternoon I count the other flock. The sheep are not there. I Qome back here. The herd Is gone; the sheep are gone. But I cannot—no,will not— believe he stole them," aald the German, growing auddenly excited. "Some one else, but not he. I know that boy. I knew him three years. He is a good boy. I have seen him deeply affected on account of hi8 soul. And she would send the police after him! I say I would rather make the loss good myself. I will not have It He has fled In fear. I know his heart It was," said the German, with a little gentle hesitation, "under my words that he first felt his need of a Saviour." "Hard hearted! Cruel! O my God! Is this the way? Is this charity? Yea, yes, yes.1" ejaculated the old man as he rode on, but presently his anger began to evaporate, his horse'B pace slackened, and by the time he bad reached his own door he was nodding and smiling. Tant' Sannle gave the order, and the girl went for the pap. "I know how it was when my first husband died. They could do nothing with me," the Boer woman said, "till I had eaten a sheep's trotter and honey nnd a little roaster cake, 1 know." "Come, Em," said Lyndall, lifting her small, proud head, "let us go in. We will not stay to hear such language."The boy put down his skins and fumbled in his pocket and produced a small piece of paper containing something. He stuck It out toward her. He looked down at his book. On lta page a black insect crept. He lifted it off with bis finger. Then he leaned on bis elbow, watching Its quivering antennae and strange movements, smiling.The Boer woman had often heard of persons groaning during prayers to add a certain poignancy and finish to them. Old Jan Vanderllnde, her mother's brother, always did it after he was converted, and she would have looked upon It as no especial sign of grace In any one. But to groan at hymn time! She was startled. She wondered If he remembered that she shook her fist In his face. This was a man of God. They knelt down to pray. The Boer woman weighed 250 pounds and could not kneel. She sat In her chair and peeped between her crossed fingers at the stranger's back. She could not understand what he said, but he was in earnest. He shook the chair by the back rail till it made quite a little dust on the mnd floor. a r. Having concluded this quaint production, be pat it where the children would find it the next morning and proceeded to prepare hit bundle. He never thought of entering a protest against the loss of his goods. Like a child he submitted and wept He had been there 11 years, and it was hard to go away. He spread open on the bed a blue handkerchief and on it pot oae by one the things he thought moat necessary and Important—a little baf of curious seeds which he meant to plant some day, an old German hymnbook, three misshapen stones that ha greatly valued, a Bible, a shirt and two handkerchiefs. Then there was room for nothing more. He tied up the boodle tightly and put it on a chair by hts bedside. She looked Into the Boer woman's eyes. Tanf Sannle understood the meaning of the look if not the words. Shu waddled after them and caught Km by the arm. She had struck Lyndall once years before and-had never done it again, so she took Em. "There, take It for you," he said, this was by way of comfort. Bonaparte sat up on the bed with his legs stretched out In front of him and a hand on each knee, blubbering softly. Dismounting quickly, he went to the great chest where his provisions were kept. Here he got out a little meal, a few mealies, a few roaster cakgs. These he tied up in three blue handkerchiefs, and, putting them into a sailcloth bag, he strung them over his ahouldere. Then he looked clrcumapcctly out at the door. It was very bad to be discovered in the act of giving. It made him red up to the roots of hla old grizzled hair. No one wa8 about however, ao he rode off again. Before the milk bush sat the Kaffir woman atill, like Hagar, he thought thruat out by her mistress In the wilderness to die. Telling her to loosen the handkerchief from her head, he poured into it the contents of his bag. The woman tied It up in sullen silence. Em opened It and found a small bit of gum, & commodity prized by the children, but the great tears dropped down slowly on to It. "Even you," he whispered, "shall not die. Even yon he loves. Even you be will fold in his arms when he takes everything and makes it perfect and happy" "Oh, she was a woman! You are very kind to try to comfort me, but she was my wife. For a woman that is my wife I could live, for the woman that is my wife I could die, for a woman that is my wife I could— Ah, that sweet word wife! When will it rest upon my lips again?" When bis feelings baa subsided a little, he raised the corners of his turned down mc nth and spoke to the German with flaboy lips. Waldo was distressed. He bad cried so much In his morsel of life that tears In another seemed to burn him. "So you will defy me, too, will yon, you Englishman's ugliness!" she cried as with oue band she forced the child down and held her bead tightly against her knee. With the other she beat her first upon one cheek and then upon the other. m When the thing had gone, he smoothed the leaves of bis Bible somewhat caressingly. The leaves of that book bad dropped blood for him once. They had taken the brightness out of bis childhood. From between them bad sprang tbe visions that had clung about him and made night horrible. Adderlike thoughts had lifted their beads, had shot out forked tongues at him, asking mockingly strange, trivial questions that be could not answer, miserable child: "If,"jfee said, stepping In awkwardly and standing by the table, "If you will not cry, 1 will tell you something, a secret." "What is it?" asked Em, Instantly becoming decidedly better. "You will tell It to no human being?" "No." For one Instant Lyndall looked on. Then she laid her small fingers on the Boer woman's arm. With the exertion of half her strength Tanf Sannie might have flung the girl back upon the stones. It vsas not the power of the slight fingers, tightly though they clinched her broad wrist, so tightly that at bedtime the marks were still there, bnt the Boer woman looked Into the clear eyes and at the quivering white lips and with a half surprised curse relaxed her hold. The girl drew Em's arm through her own. "Do you think she understands me? Oh, tell her every word, that she may know I thank her!" Bonaparte cracked some more almonds, then said, yawning, and more as though he asked (or the sake of having something to converse about than from any interest he felt In the subject: When they rose from their knees, Bonaparte solemnly seated himself in the chair and opened tbe Bible. He blew his nose, pulled up his shirt collar, smoothed the leaves, stroked down his capacious waistcoat, blew bis nose again, looked solemnly round the room, then began: He bent nearer to her and with deep solemnity said: At that Instant the girl reappeared with a basin of steaming gruel and a black bottle. "That Is not much. They cannot say I take much," he said, looking at It. He pot his knotted stick beai his bine tobacco bag and his ebon and then Inspected his coats. H two left, a moth eaten overcoat black alpaca out at the elbows decided for the overcoat It was certs inly, but then he could over us arm ana omy put it C he met some one along the was more respectable thai alpaca. He hung the grei the back of the chair and 8ti bit of roaster cake under i the bundle, and then his p were completed. The Gei contemplating them with i faction. He had almost fc sorrow at leaving In his preparing. Suddenly b ~ "I have made a machine!" Em opened her eyes. fc. Tant' Sannie poured some of its contents into the basin, stirred it well and came to the bed. "You must try to get to the next farm," said the German. Why did the women In Mark see only one angel and the women in Luke two? Could a story be told In opposite ways and both ways be true? Could It? Could It? Then, again: Is there nothing always right and nothing always wrong? Could Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenlte, "put her hand to the-nail and her right hand to the workman's hammer?" and could the 8p!rlt of the Lord chant paeans over her, loud paeans, high paeans, set In the book of the Lord, and no rolce cry out it was a mean and dastardly sin to lie Itnd kill the trusting in their sleep? Could the friend of God marry his own sister aad be baloved, and the man who does "Yes, a machine for shearing sheep. It Is almost done," said the boy. "There is only one thing that Is not right yet, bwt It will be soon. When yon think and think and think all night and all day, It comes at last," he added mysteriously. "And what has become of the herd's wifer The German was alight again In a moment The woman shook her head. She would sleep in the field. "Oh, 1 can't, I can't! I shall die, 1 shall die!" said Bonaparte, putting his hand to his side. "All liars shall have their part In tbe lake which burnetb with Are and brimstone, which Is the second death." "Yes; his wife. She has a child 6 days old, and Tant* Sannie would turn her out into the fields this night. That," said the German, rising, "that is what I call cruelty, diabolical.cruelty. My soul abhors that deed. The man that could do such a thing I could run him through with a knife!" said the German, his gray eyes flashing and his bushy black beard adding to the murderous fury of his aspect. Then, suddenly subsiding, he said: "But all Is now well. Tant' Sannie gives her word that the maid shall remain for some dayI go to Oom Muller's tomorrow to learn if the sheep may not be there. If they are not, then I return. They are gone; that is all. I make it good." The German reflected. Kaffir women were accustomed to sleep in the open air, but then the child was small, and after so hot a day the night might be chilly. That she would creep back to the huts at the homestead when the darkness favored her the German's sagacity did not make evident to him. He took off the old brown salt and pepper coat and held it out to her. The woman received it in silence and laid it across her knee. "With that they will sleep warmly, not so bad. Ha, ha, ha!" said the German. And he rode home, nodding his bead in a manner that would have made any other man dizzy. "Come, Just a little," said Tant* Sannie coaXlngly, "Just a drop." "It's too thick, it's too thick. I should choke." Having read this portion of Scripture, Bonaparte paused impressively and looked all round the room. "Where is it?" "Mover' she said to Bonaparte, who stood In the door, and be, Bonaparte the Invincible, In the hour of his triumph, moved to ylve her place. "Here! I always carry it here," said the boy, patting bis hand to his breast, where a bulging out was visible. "This Is a model. When it is done, they will have to make a large one." "You will, I trust dear madame. excuse this exhibition of my feelings, but this—this little picture recalls to me my first and best beloved, my dear departed wife, who Is now a saint In heaven." "I shall not my dear friends," be said, "long detain you. Much of our precious time has already fled blissfully from us In the voice of thanksgiving and the tongue of praise. A few, a very few, words are all I shall address to you, and may they be as a rod of Iron dividing the bones from the marrow and the marrow from the bones. Tant' Sannie added from the contents of the bottle and held out a spoonful. Bonaparte opened his mouth like a little biid waiting for a worm and held it open as she dipped again and again Into the pap. The Hottentot ceased to laugh, and an uncomfortable silence fell on all the three In the doorway. "Show it me." The boy shook his head. "No, not till It is done. I cannot let any human being see it till then." Once In their room, Em sat down on the floor and walled bitterly. Lyndall lay on the bed, with be# arm drawn across her eyes, very white and stllL Tanf Sannle could not understand, but the Hottentot maid, who had taken her seat on the floor beside her mistress, translated the English Into Dutch as far as she was able. "Ah, this will do your heart good!" said Tant' Sannie, in whose mind the relative functions of heart and stomach were exceedingly ill defined. It today goes to bell, to hell? Was there nothing always right or always "It Is a beautiful secret" said Em, and the boy shuffled out to pick up his skins. "Hoo, hoo!" cried Em. "And they I won't let him take the gray mare, and Waldo has gone to the milL Hoo, hoo! And perhaps they won't let us go and say goodby to him. Hoo, hoo, hoo!" "I wish you would be quiet," said Lynda 11 without moving. "Does It give you such felicity to let Bonaparte know he Is hurting you? We will ask no one. It will be supper time soon. Listen, and when you hear the chink of the knives and forks we will go out and see him." wrong? Those leaves had dropped blood tor him once. They had made his heart heavy and cold; they had robbed his " Idhood of Its gladness. Now his ;ers moved over them caressingly. |fy Father God knows, my Father i'ws," he said. "We cannot nnderad. He knows." After awhile he isperad, smiling: "I heard jour Voice i morning when my eyes were not open. I felt yon near me, my Fado yon love me so?" His Illuminated. "In the last I the old question has gone know you are good; I know rthing; 1 know, I know, I Id not have borne It any ty more." He laughed all the while I was so "In the first place, what Is a liar?" "Ah, my first, my beloved!" he added, looking tenderly down at the picture. "Oh, the beloved, the beautiful lineaments! My angel wife! This is surely a sister of yours, madam e?" he added, fixing his eyes on Tanf Sannie. That evening fatber and son sat In the cabin eating their supper. The fatber algbed deeply sometimes. Perhaps be thought how long a time It was since Bonaparte had visited the cat)in, Dot nis son was in mat land In which sighs have no part. It Is a question whether It were not better to be the shabbiest of fools and know the srajr up the little stair of Imagination o the land of dreams than the wisest if men, who see nothing that the eyes lo not show and feel nothing that the lands do not touch. The boy chewed tls brown bread and drank his coffee, Dut In truth be saw only bis machine When the basin was emptied, the violence of his grief was much assuaged. He looked at Tanf Sannie with gentle tears. "I wish he would not come back tonight," said Em, her face wet with tears. The question was put so pointedly and followed by a pause so profound that even the Hottentot man left off looking at bis boots and opened bis eyes, though be understood not a word. w n pang i "Tanf Sannie la a singular woman," said Bonaparte, taking the tobacco bag the German passed to him. "Tell him," said the Boer woman, "that I hope he will sleep well and that the Lord will comfort him as the Lord only can." "It will be Just the same if he comes back tomorrow," said LyndalL His face was white, gained Its color, busied him i i "Singular! Yes," said the German; "but her heart is on her right side. 1 have lived long years with her, and I may say I have for her an affection which she returns. I may say," added the German, with warmth—"I may say that there Is not one soul on this farm for whom I have not an affection." The two girls sat on the step of the cabin waiting for the German's return. Lyndall shaded her eyes with her hand from the sunset light "I repeat," said Bonaparte, "what la a liar 7' The Dutchwoman blushed, shook her bead and pointed to herself. right. -I will lei say I dkl i The sensation was Intense.. The attention of the audience was riveted. Carefully, Intently, Bonaparte looked from the picture In his hand to Tant* Sannle's features and from the features back to the picture. Then slowly a light broke over his countenance. He looked up. It became a smile. He looked back at the miniature. His whole countenance was effulgent "Bless you, dear friend! you I" said Bonaparte. God bless When the door was safely shut on the German, the Hottentot and the Dutchwoman, he got off the bed and washed away the soap be had rubbed on his eyelids. "There be comes," she said, "whistling 'Ach Jerusalem du schonel* so loud I can hear him here." "Perhaps he has found the sheep." "Found them!" said LyndalL "He would whistle just so If be knew he had to die tonight" "Have you any of you ever seen a liar, my dear friends?" There was a still longer pause. "I hope not; I truly hope not Bnt I will tell you what a liar Is. I knew a liar once—a little boy who lived In Cape Town, In Short Market street His mother and I sat together one day discoursing about our her sobs and list g at the door, came to the wli "Ah, my friend," said Bonapai "when the grace of God Is In hearts. Is It not so with us all? Do not love the very worm we tread u] and as we tread upon it? Do we kf distinctions of race or of sex or of C "Ah, yes; 1 see it now," be cried, turning bis delighted gaze on to the Boer woman, "eyes, mouth, noee, chin, ths very rrpitrsstnnt" be erlfed. "How la It posalble 1 did not notice It before 7" finished, that last something found out are the cutest lad I ever camC and added. He saw It as It worked IX you don't turn out the old with beautiful ■monthpa—, and over and prayers, and trammel the and above, as he chewed his bread and coat, and get your arms rount drank his coffee, there was that de- eoaft waist and a wedding lightful consciousness of something finger, then you are not bending over him and loving him. It But you are Bonaparte. Bon would not have been better In one of fine boy!" the courts of heaven, where the walls Making which pleasing "Bon," he said, slapping his leg, "you said aa he came r. "Ah, yea, that at a smart ■oak. Sampson,' satff Ms mother, 'go and buy sixpence of "melboss" from the Malay round the corner.' "When be came back, she said, 'How moch hare jroo got7" .be fat ring on her Bonaparte, you're a or 1 No! "Lot* ao «miring, to dlvta*. It fill* my soul, tnjr Ufa, mjr *11." beautiful?' be added aa be dismounted, pausing (or a moment with his band on the saddle to look at the evening sky,* where the sun shot up long flaming streaks, between which and the eye thin yellow clouds floated. "Ei, yon weep?" said the German as the girls ran up to him. But til* i itr It fiercely. The door was locked on it now. I f 1 be laughed "Take another cap of coffee," Mid T&nt' Sanale. "Put some sugar in." After a time be aaok into a leas fervent mood and remarked: The room vu In perfect darkneM now. ly to sing, ted verses i Us gUui- Bonaparte bung the picture tenderly np and was turning to take the cup from ber band when tbe German appeared to say that tbe podding was ready and tbe meat on tbe table. reflection, be palled off his trousers and got Into bed cheerfully. "The colored female who waits npon Tantf Sannle appears to be of a virtuous disposition, an Individual who"— "Virtuous!" said the German. "I have confidence In her. is that In her which Is pure, that which Is noble. The rich and high that walk this earth with lofty eyelids might exchange with her." I be i M 'Five,' be said. are set with rows of tbe King of Glory's amethysts and milk white pearls, than there, eating his sapper In that little room. "Nothing," said Lyndall quietly, "only they have locked ub in." "He was afraid If be said six and a half she'd ask for some. And, my friends, that was a lie. The half of a 'melboss' stuck In his throat, and be died and was burled. And where did the soul of that little liar go to, my friends? It went to tbe lake of fire and brimstone. This brings me to the second point of my discourse. She turned and went back to bed again. But ere long Em beard a sound of movement. Lyndall had climbed up into the window and with her fingers felt the woodwork that surrounded the panes. Slipping down, the girl loosened the iron knob from the foot of the bedstead, and, climbing np again, she broke with it every pane of glass in the window, beginning at the top and ending at the bottom. kne* than over. The sheep eyes turned to look CHAPTER VIL BE SETS HIS TRAP. Before they had time to reply the voice of Tant' Sannie was heard. looked up to the silver watch at the top of his bed. "The march is long tomorrow. This will not do," he said, taking off his spectacles and putting them carefully Into the book to mark the place. "This will be good reading as I walk along tomorrow," he added as he stuffed the book Into the pocket of the greatcoat, "very good reading." He nodded his head and lay down. He thought a little of his own troubles, a good deal of the two little girls he was leaving, of the earl, of Emilina, of the baron, but be was soon \sleep, sleeping as peacefully as a little child upon whose Innocent soul sorrow and care cannot rest. "He's a God fearing man and one who knows bow to behave himself,'* said the Boer woman as be went out at the doop. be Is ugly, did not the Lord make him? And are we to laugh at the Lord's handiwork? It is better to be ugly and good than pretty and bad, though of course ifs nice whoa one Is both," said Tanf Sannie, looking complacently at tbe picture on the wall. As they sat in silence there was a knock at the door. When it was opened, tbe small woolly bead of a little nigger showed Itself. She was a messenger from Taut' Sannie. Tbe German was wanted at once at tbe homestead. Putting on his bat with both hands, he hurried off. Tbe kitchen was in darkness, but In tbe pantry beyond Tanf Sannie and her maids were assembled. "You child of the child of the child of a Kaffir's dog, come here!" I into q et Then ; at bush "May I come la? I hope I do not disturb you, my 6ear friend," said Bonaparte late one evening, putting his nose in at the cabin door, where the German and his son sat finishing their supper. The German looked upc He thought the Dutchwoman, come out to cool herself in the yard, called to some misbehaving servant. The old man looked round to see who it might be. ind be saw a vision. had crossed tbe river of Death ralked on the other bank in the i land of Beolah. His feet sank be dark grass, and he walked Then, far over the fields, he i figure oomlng across tbe dark grass. At first he thought It The German here got up to bring a coal for Bonaparte's pipe, and they sat together talking for awhile. At length Bonaparte knocked the ashes ont of bis pipe. "What la a lake of fire and brimstone? I will tell you, my friends," said Bonaparte condescendingly. "The Imagination unaided cannot conceive It, but by the help of the Lord I will put it before your mind's eye. It was two months since he had been installed as schoolmaster In Tant* Sannle's household, and he had grown mighty and more mighty day by day. He visited the cabin no more, sat close to Tant' Sannle drinking coffee all the evening and walked about loftily with his hands under the coattalls of the German's black cloth and failed to see even a nigger who wished him a deferential good morning. It was therefore with no small surprise that the German perceived Bonaparte's red nose at his door. "You old vagabond of a praying German, are you deaf?" "What are you doing?" asked Em, who heard the falling fragments. "It is time that I took my departure, dear friend," he said, "but before I do so shall Xve not close this evening of sweet communion and brotherly Intercourse by a few words of prayer? Oh, bow good and bow pleasant a thing It Is for brethren to dwell together In unity! It is like the dew upon the mountains of Hermon, for there the Lord bestowed a blessing, even life for evermore." Tant' Sannie stood before the steps of the kitchen. Upon them sat the lean Hottentot Upon the highest stood Bonaparte Blenkins, both hands folded under the tails of his coat and his eyes fixed on the sunset sky. In tne afternoon toe uerman ana Bonaparte sat before tbe door of tbe cabin. Both smoked in complete silence, Bonaparte with a book in his hands and his eyes half closed, the German puffing vigorously and glancing up now and again at the serene blue sky overhead. A Kaffir girl who had been grinding pepper between two stones knelt on the floor, tbe lean Hottentot stood with a brass candlestick In her hand, and Tanf Sannie, near the shelf, with a hand on each hip, was evidently listening Intently, as were ber companions. Her companion made her no reply, but leaned on every little crossbar, which cracked and gave way beneath her. Then she pressed with all her strength against the shutter. She had thought the wooden buttons would give way, but by the clinking sound she knew that the iron bar had been put across. She was quite quiet for a time. Clambering down, she took from the table a small one bladed penknife, with which she began to peck at the bard wood of the shutter. most be one of the angels, but as It came nearer be began to feel what It was. And It came closer, closer to him, and then tbe voice said, "Come," and ha knew surely who it was. He ran to tbe dear feet and touched them with his hands; yes, be held them fast Ha lay down beside them. When be looked np, the face was over him, and tbe glorious eyes were loving him, and they two were there alone together. He laughed a deep laugh, then started np like one suddenly awakened ffcotn sleep. "O God," he cried, "I cannot wait, I cannot wait! I want to die! I want to see him! I want to touch blm! Let me die!" He folded his hands, trembling. "How can I wait so long—for long, long years perhaps? I want to die—to see blm! I will die any death! "I was traveling In Italy once on a time. I came to a city called Rome, a vast city, and near it is a mountain which spits forth fire. Its name is Etna. Now, there was a man in that city of Rome who had not tbe fear of •God before bis eyes, and be loved a woman. Tbe woman died, and he walked up that mountain spitting fire, and when be got to the top be threw himself In at the bole that is there. The next day I went up. I was not afraid. The Lord preserves his servants. And in their shall they bear thee up, lest at any time thou fall Into a volcano. It was a dark night when I got there, but In the fear of the Lord I walked to the edge of the yawning abyss antf looked in. That sight—that sight, my friends. Is Impressed upon my most Indelible memory. I looked down vnto the lurid depths upon an Incandescent lake, a melted fire, a seething sea. The bil lows rolled from side to side, and on their fiery crests tossed tbe white skeleton of tbe suicide. Tbe beat had burned the flesh from off the bones. They lay as a light cork upon the melted fiery waves. One skeleton hand was raised upward, tbe finger pointing to heaven; the other, with outstretched finger, pointing downward, as though It would say, '1 go below, but you, Bonaparte, may soar a Dove." i gased; I stood entranced. At that instant there was a crack in tbe lurid lake. It swelled, expanded, and tbe skeleton of tbe suicide disappeared, to be seen no more by mortal eye." The German dropped the saddle on the ground. It was very quiet in the room. The coals in the fireplace threw a dull red light across the floor upon the red lions on the quilt. Eleven o'clock came, and the room was very still. One o'clock came. The glimmer had died out, though the ashes were still warm, and the room was very dark. The gray mouse which bad Its bole under the tool box came out and sat on the sacks In the corner. Then, growing bolder, the room was so dark, it climbed the chair at the bedside, nibbled nt The roaster cake, took one bite quickly at the candle and then sat on its haunches listening. It heard the even breathing of the old man and the steps of the hungry Kaffir dog going his last round In search of a bone or a skin that had been forgotten, and it heard the white hen call out as the wildcat ran away with one of her brood, and it heard the chicken cry. Then the gray mouse went back to its hole under the tool box, and the room was quiet. And 2 o'clock came. By that time the night was grown dull and cloudy. The wildcat had gone to Its home on the "kopje." The Kaffir dog bad found a bone and lay gnawing it "Bish, bish, bish! WTiat may this be?" be said and walked toward the house. "Very strange!" "What may it be?" cried the old German In astonishment "Supposing—you—you, in fact made the remark to me," burst forth tbe German suddenly, "that you were looking for a situation." The room beyond the pantry was tbe storeroom. Through the thin wooden partition there arose at that instant evidently from some creature ensconoed there, a prolonged and prodigious bowl, followed by a succession of violent blows against the partition wall. "Stay and drink some coffee," said the German. The girls followed him, Em still weeping, Lyndall with her face rather white and her eyes wide open. "Walk in, walk In," he said Joyfully. "Boy, boy, see If there is coffee left. Well, none. Make a fire. We have done supper, but"— Bonaparte opened his mouth wide and sent a stream of smoke through his lips. "No, thank you, my friend. I have business that must be done tonight," said Bonaparte. "Your dear son appears to have gone to sleep. He is going to take the wagon to the mill tomorrow. What a little man he is!" "And I have the heart of a devil, did' yoti say? You could run me through with a knife, could you?" cried the Dutchwoman. "I could not drive the Kaffir maid away because I was afraid of vou. was I ? Oh. you miserable rue! i lovea you, aia it t wotnu nave useo to marry you, would I, would I, would I?" cried the Boer woman. "You cat's tail, you dog's paw! Be near my house tomorrow morning when the sun rises," she gasped, "my Kaffirs will drag you through the sand. They would do it gladly, any of them, for a bit of tobacco, for fell your prayings with them." "What are you doing now T' asked Bin, who bad ceased crying in her wonder and had drawn near. "My dear friend," said Bonaparte, taking off his bat, "I came not to sup. not for mere creature comforts, but for an hour of brotherly intercourse with a kindred spirit. The press of business and the weight of thought, but they alone, may sometimes prevent me from sharing the secrets of my bosom with him for whom 1 have so great a sympathy. You perhaps wonder when I shall return the two pounds"— "Now, supposing," said the German —"merely supposing, of course—that some one—some one, in fact—should make an offer to you, say, to become schoolmaster on their farm and teach two children, two little girls perhaps, and would give you £40 a year, would you accept it? Just supposing, of course." "Trying to make a hole," was the short reply. The German seized the churn stick and was about to rush round the house when tbe Boer woman impressively laid her band upon bis arm. "A fine boy." "Do you think you will be able to?" But, though the boy nodded before the fire, he was not asleep, and they all knelt down to pray. "No, but I am trying." "That is his head," said Tanf Sannie; "that is his bead." In an agony of suspense Em waited. For ten minutes Lyndall pecked. The hole was three-eighths of an inch deep. Then the blade sprang into ten pieces. Ob, let me come!" Weeping, be bowed himself and quivered from bead to foot After a long while be lifted bis head. Tea; I will wait, I will wait, bat not long. Do not let It be very long, Jesus, Slog. I want you; oh, I want yonaeon, soon!" He sat still staring across the plain with his tearful eyes. amvics no. n. In the front room of the farmhouse ■at Tanf Sannie In her elbow chair. In her hand was her great brass clasped bymnbook; round her neck was a dean white handkerchief; under ber test was a wooden store. There, too, •at Bm and Lyndall In clean pinafores and new shoes; there, too, were the spruce Hottentot in a starched white "cappje" and her husband on tbe other aide of tbe door, with bis wool oiled very much combed out and staring at his new leather boots. The Kaffir servants were not there because Tanf Bannle held they were descended from •pea and needed no salvation. But the rsst were gathered for the Sunday service and waited tbe offlclator. Meanwhile Bonaparte and tbe Ger- approached arm In arm, Bona~ black cloth • a spotless salt and f admlra- When they rose from their knees, Bonaparte extended his hand to Waldo and patted him on the head. "But what might it be?" asked the German, looking from one to the other, churn stick in hand. "Well, my dear friend," said Bonaparte, "that would depend on circumstances. Money is no consideration with me. For my wife I have made provision for the next year. My health Is broken. Could I meet a place where a gentleman would be treated as a gentleman I would accept it, however small the remuneration. With me," said Bonaparte, "money Is no consideration.""What has happened now?" asked Em, blubbering afresh. v A low hollow bellow prevented reply, and the voice of Bonaparte lifted Itself on high. "Oh, no, no! Make a fire, make a fire, boy. We will have a pot of hot coffee presently," said the Qerman, rubbing his hands and looking about, not knowing bow best to show hiB pleasure at the unexpected visit. "Good night, my lad," he said. "As you go to the mill tomorrow we shall not see you for some days. Good night. Goodby. The Lord bless and guide you, and may he bring you back to us in safety to find us all as you have left us!" He laid some emphasis on the last words. "And you, my dear friend," he added, turning with redoubled warmth to the German, "long, long shall I look back to this evening as a time of refreshment from the presence of the Lord, as an hour of blessed IntercouBe with a brother in Jesus. May such often return 1 The Lord bless you," he added, with yet deeper fervor, "richly, richly !" "Mottling," said Lyndall. "Bring me my nightgown, a piece of paper and the matches." "I am bewildered, I am bewildered," said the German, standing before her and raising his hand to his forehead. "I—I do not understand." "Mary Ann, my angel, my wife!" Wondering, Em fumbled about till she found them. "Isn't it dreadful V said Tant' Sannie as the blows were repeated fiercely. "He has got a letter. His wife is dead. You must go and comfort him," said Tant' Sannie at last, "and I will go with you. It would not be the thing for me to go alone—me, who am only 33, and be &n unmarried man no'fr," said Tant' Sannie, blushing and smoothing out her apron. For three weeks the German's diffident "Good evening" had met with a stately bow, the chin of Bonaparte lifting Itself higher dally, and his shadow had not darkened the cabin doorway since he came to borrow the two pounds. The German walked to the head of the bed and took down a blue bag that bung there. Blue bags were a specialty of the Germans. He kept above 50 stowed away in different corners of his room, some filled with curious stones, some with Beeds that had been in bis possession 15 years, some with rusty nails, buckles and bits of old harness, in all a wonderful assortment, but highly prized. "We have something here not so bad," said the German, smiling know ingly, as he dived bis hand into the bag and took out a handful of almonds and raisins. "I buy these for my chickens. They Increase In size, but they still think the old man must have something nice for them. And the old man —well, a big boy may have a sweet tooth sometimes, may he not? Ha. ha!" said the German, chuckling at hie own Joke, as he heaped the plate with almonds. "Here Is a stone, two stones, to crack them, no late patent Improvement—well, Adam's nutcracker. Ha. ha! But 1 think we shall do. We will not leave them uncracked. We will consume a few without fashionable Improvements.""Ask him, ask him!" cried Tant' Sannle, pointing to Bonaparte. "He knows. You thought he could not make me understand, but he did, he did, you old fool! I know enough English for that You be here," shouted the Dutchwoman, "when the morning Btar rises, and I will let my Kaffirs take you out and drag you till there Is not one bone left in your old body that Is not broken as fine as bobootle meat you old beggar! All your rags are not worth that they should be thrown out on to the ash heap," cried the Boer woman, "but I will have them for my Bheep! Not one rotten hoof of your old mare do you take with you. I will have her —all, all for my sheep that you have lost, you godless thing!" * "What are you going to do with thom?" she whispered. "Burn down the" window." "But won't the whole house take fire and burn down too?" An intense quiet reigned everywhere. Only In her room the Boer woman tossed her great arms In her sleep, for she dreamed that a dark shadow with outstretched wings fled slowly oyer her house, and she moaned and shivered. And the night was very stllL "Well," said the German when he bad taken a whiff or two more from his pipe, "I think I shall go up and see Tant' Sannie a little. I go up often on Sunday afternoon to have a general conversation, to see her, you know. Nothing — nothing particular, you know." "Yes." "Yes, very, and I do not care." "But will It not be very wicked?" She arranged the nightgown carefully In the corner of the window, with the chips of the frame about It There was only one match in the box. She drew it carefully along the walL For a moment it burned up blue and showed the tiny face with Its glistening eyes. She held it carefully to the paper. For an Instant It burned up brightly, then flickered and went out. She blew , the spark, but it died also. Then she threw the paper on to the ground, trod on it and went to her bed and began to undress. Upon this they all trudged round the house In company, the Hottentot maid carrying the light, Tant' Sannle and the German following and the Kaffir girl bringing up the rear. Here again Bonaparte rested and then continued: Then he opened the door and vanished out Into the darkness. But, quiet as all places were, there was a quite peculiar quiet In the German's room. Though you strained your ear most carefully, you caught do sound of breathing. "The lake of melted stone rose In the crater. It swelled higher and higher at the side; It streamed forth at the top. I had presence of mind. Near me was a rock. I stood upon It The fiery torrent was vomited out and streamed on either side of me. And through that long and terrible night I stood there alone upon that rock, the%lowlng fiery lava on every hand, a monument of the long suffering and tender providence of the Lord, who spared me that I might this day testify in your ears of him. The old man put his book into bis pocket and walked up to the farmhouse with a peculiarly knowing and delighted expression of countenance. "He, he, he!" laughed Bonaparte as he Btumbled over the stones. "If there isn't the rarest lot of fools on this farm that ever God Almighty stuck legs to! He, he, he! When the worms come out then the blackbirds feed. Ha. ha, ha!" Then he drew himself up. Even when alone he liked to pose with a certain dignity. It was second nature to him. "Oh," said Tant' Sannle, "I see now It wasn't wickedness made him do without his wife so long, only necessity."He was not gone, for the old coat still hung on the chair, the coat that was to be put on when he met any one, and the bundle and stick were ready for tomorrow's long march. The old German himself lay there, his wavy, Continued on page fcmr.  "He doesn't suspect what I'm going to do," soliloquized the German; "hasn't the least idea; a nice surprise for him." At the door she motioned to the German to enter and followed him closely. On the stretcher behind the sackaBona parte lay on his face, his head pressed into a pillow, his legs kicking gently. The Boer woman sat down on a box at the foot of the bed. The German stood with folded hands looking on. nafrto resDlendent In the . clothes, a itilrt and collar, the Oerman in the olt shy glance* C tSMat hfiicompanlon. M the |M)t 4oor Bonaparte kH hat witt much dignity, shirt collar and entered. Tt tar table be walked, pat his. Hatty down by the big Bible •d his head over It In silent The Boer woman looked at lestot, and the Hottentot Boer woman. There wti one twng 01 which Tanf Sannie had s reverence, which exorcised a Influence over her, which the time a better woman., ww new. shining black cloth her think of the "predikanf ber think of the eiders, w the top pew of the- church on with " nicely oil' The Boer woman wiped the moisture from her mouth with the palm of her hand. The man whom he had left at his doorway winked at the retreating figure with a wink that was not to be described. * He looked in at the kitchen door. The Hottentot maid who acted as Interpreter between Tant' Sannle and himself was gone, and Tant* Sannle herself was in bed. Em rushed to the door, knocking against it wildly. The German turned to Bonaparte, who still stood on the step absorbed in the beauty of the sunset "Oh, Tant' Sannle, Tanf Sannle! Oh, let us out!" she cried. "Oh, Lyndall. what are we to do?" removed raised bis the cenhat sol- "Now, my dear friends, let us deduce the lessons that are to be learned from this narrative. CHAPTER VI. "We must all die," said Tant' Sannit at last. "It is the dear Lord's will." "Do not address me, do not approach me, lost man," said Bonaparte, not moving his eye nor lowering his chin. "There Is a crime from which all nature revolts; there Is a crime whose name Is loathsome to the human ear. That crime Is yours; that crime Is Ingratitude. This woman bas been your benefactress. On her farm you have Uved, after her sheep you have looked. Into her house you have been allowed to enter and bold Divine service, an honor of which you were never worthy, and how have you rewarded her? Basely, basely, basely 1" BONAPARTE HLE.NKIN8 MAKES BIS NE8T, "Never mind, Bon, my boy," he said as he walked round to his own room. "Tomorrow will do. He, he, he!" Lyndall wiped a drop of blood off the lip she bad bitten. Is "Firstly, let us never commit suicide. "Ah, what Is the matter?" asked Waldo, stopping at the foot of the ladder with a load of skins on his back that he was carrying up to the loft Through the open door in the gable little Em was visible, her feet dangling from the high bench on which she sat. The room, once a storeroom, had been divided by a row of "mealie" bags into two parts, the back being Bonaparte's bedroom, the front his schoolroom. Hearing her voice, Bonaparte turneC himself on to bis back. "I am going to sleep," she said. "If you like to sit there and howl till the morning, do. Perhaps you will find that it helps. I never heard that howling helped any one." and bow- That man Is a fool, my friends, thai "It's very hard," said Tant' Sannlc "I know, for I've l»st two husbands." , ornHin i, Rheumatism, 7r*ywC ' th« Hotlooked at the man is Insane, my friends, who would leave this earth, my friends. Here are joys Innumerable, such as It hath not entered Into the heart of man to understand, my friends. Here are clothes, my friends; here are beds, my friends; here Is delicious food, my friends. Our precious bodies were given us to love, to cherish. Oh, let as do so! Oh. let us never hurt them, but care for and love them, my friends." Every one was Impressed, and Bona DR. RK M Bonaparte looked up Into the Ger man's face. CHAPTER VIII. HE CATCHES THE OLD BIRD. "Oh, what does she say? Sgealr tc me words of eomfo.V" At 4 o'clock the next afternoon the German rode across the plain, returning from bis search for the lost sheep. He rode slowly, for he had been In the saddle since sunrise and was somewhat weary, and the heat of the afternoon made his horse sleepy as It picked Its way slowly along the sandy road. Every now and then a great red spider would start out of the "karroo" op one ear in nn Long after, when Em herself had gone to bed and was almost asleep. Lyndall came and stood at her bed side. PA! profound subduing made her for 'That thins It made it made bo sat in The German repeated Tant' Sannle'fremark.Here the German sat down on one side of the table, Bonaparte on the other, each one with a couple of flat stones before blm and the plate between them. "Ah, I—I also, two dear, dear wives whom I shall never see any moreT cried Bonaparte, flinging himself back upon the bed. "Here," she said, slipping a little pot of powder into her hand. "Rub some ou your face. Does It not burn where she struck you?" "Lyndall made him angry," said the girl tearfully; "and he has given me the fourteenth of John to learn. He says he will teach mo to behave myself when Lyndall troubles him." He howled until the tarantulas thai lived between the rafters and the zlnC roof felt the unusual vibration ant looked out with their wicked bright eyes to see what was going on. "Do not be afraid," said the German, "do not be afraid. I do not forget the boy at the fire. I crack for him. The bag Is full. Why, this Is strange," he said suddenly, cracking open a large nut, "three kernelsl I have not observed that before. This must-be retained. This ta valuable." He wrapped the ant gravely In paper and put it eutfiib In hia wal&teoat oockat "Ya»- "But It la all falsa, lies and falsehoods. | must, I will speak," said the German, suddenly looking round, bewildered. "Do I dream? Are you mad? What may It be?" Then she crept back to her own bed. Long, long after, when Em was really asleep, she lay still awake and folded her hands on her little breast and muttered:duniays, D tbs l4lr m . r _ Ch1, bo holy •ad respectable, with their little swal- Vowtalled coats; It made her think of hsaven, where everything was so holy •ad respsctable and nobody wore tan cord and the littlest angel had a black tall Bhe wished aba hadn't call- parte proceeded "Thirdly, let as not love too much. If that young man had not loved that side of the path and nip across to the other, but qothlng else broke the still pnopotony. Presently, behind one of the hlgheat of the milk bushes that dotted the roadside, the German caught sight of a Kaffir woman, seated there •▼tdanily for such shadow as the milk tomb Wtofct %ffora u* atoplaf young woman, be would not have jumped Into Mount Etna. The good men of old never did ao. Was Jere- "What did ahe do?" aaked the boy, 4. "You see," said Em, hopelessly turning the leaves, "whenever he talks she looks out at the door, as though she did not hear him. Today she asked him what the signs of the sodlao Tant' Bannle sighed; the Hottentot maid sighed; the Kaffir girl, who looked In at the door, pat her hand over bar month and said. "Mow—wah!" "Go, dog!" cried the Dutchwoman. "I would have been a rich woman this day If It had not been for your tartness, praying with the Kaffirs behind the kraal walk. Go, yon Kaffir dogf "Rut ■■*».«D wwa "When that day comes and I am strong, I will hate everything that has i tnlah ever In love, or Eseklel, or Hosea, I or area any of the minor prophets? Ma power and help everything that la weak." And she bit her kip again. 4 MO. tnal i» U» LonL" The German looked wtattk* calia +"i V. -r, " . ;.